General DiscussionGeneral discussion, debunking topics that don't fit in the forums belowMon, 21 Jan 2019 23:17:54 +0000Mon, 21 Jan 2019 23:17:54 +0000Metabunkhttps://www.metabunk.org/general-discussion.f2/
Welcome Thread - New Members Post HereMon, 21 Jan 2019 11:36:16 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/welcome-thread-new-members-post-here.t1729/
https://www.metabunk.org/welcome-thread-new-members-post-here.t1729/invalid@example.com (Mick West)Mick West
A few words on who you are and how you ended up here would be appreciated. Or just say hi!

Starlite is one of those things that keeps coming up, and the story is repeated almost without question. An inventor, Maurice Ward, developed what he called a "plastic" that was flame resistant. He usually demonstrated this with a blowtorch, sometimes on an egg.

“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years......It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government.”

I've been seeing a lot of these ads recently, probably because I clicked on one of them a few months back. The headlines accompanying the ads have become increasingly incredible. Taking on an $11.2 Trillion market? Quite impressive when the entire US GDP is less than twice that at $18.5 Trillion.

Clicking through takes us to...

Debunked: XYO Device Replacing GPS, Saving $2 Million a Day]]>22Acknowledging and Confronting our own biasesTue, 20 Nov 2018 20:37:42 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/acknowledging-and-confronting-our-own-biases.t8219/
https://www.metabunk.org/acknowledging-and-confronting-our-own-biases.t8219/invalid@example.com (Critical Thinker)Critical Thinkerout of the rabbit hole' story, but maybe they have a story to share where they confronted their own intellectual biases.

We all (myself included) can suffer from biases that result in (wanting to give) giving a pass to misinformation (or...

Acknowledging and Confronting our own biases]]>19Is this Twitter Bot trying to affect the national zeitgeist, or just spam?Sat, 17 Nov 2018 03:19:11 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/is-this-twitter-bot-trying-to-affect-the-national-zeitgeist-or-just-spam.t9722/
https://www.metabunk.org/is-this-twitter-bot-trying-to-affect-the-national-zeitgeist-or-just-spam.t9722/invalid@example.com (Mick West)Mick West
The twitter account @jenn_m_tweets is a bot that randomly tweets every few minutes a simple opinion randomly constructed along the lines of:

"I think that (contentious subject) is (positive/negative) and (that's good/bad)

Some examples:

In my heart, I believe alex jones is bad
I think feminism is important
MRAs are shit
TERFs are straight terrible!!!!
I really believe that andrew auernheimer is uncool
richard...

"These CCTV images released by Scotland yard today allegedly show Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov both occupying exactly the same space at Gatwick airport at precisely the same second. 16.22.43 on 2 March 2018. Note neither photo shows the...

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Debunked: Fake photos-Novichok attack Russian 'agents' (side by side gates)]]>34100,000 Illegal Aliens Registered to Vote in PAFri, 16 Nov 2018 15:16:52 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/100-000-illegal-aliens-registered-to-vote-in-pa.t10136/
https://www.metabunk.org/100-000-illegal-aliens-registered-to-vote-in-pa.t10136/invalid@example.com (MikeG)MikeG
David Harris recently ran a story claiming that 100,000 illegal aliens were registered to vote in Pennsylvania. It takes some time to unpeel both parts of the story –the total number and their legal status—but the claim is both disingenuous and inaccurate.

According to Harris:

There are currently 100,000 illegal aliens registered to vote in Pennsylvania, thanks to a previous Democrat law that automatically registered people when they renewed their driver’s...

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100,000 Illegal Aliens Registered to Vote in PA]]>6"History" Channel: Quick DebunksTue, 09 Oct 2018 16:33:41 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/history-channel-quick-debunks.t8933/
https://www.metabunk.org/history-channel-quick-debunks.t8933/invalid@example.com (MikeG)MikeG
The first example comes from the History Channel show Hunting Hitler. On the November 2016 premiere of season two, the “investigators” drop a bombshell: a picture of Hitler found in...

"History" Channel: Quick Debunks]]>9What to do when family members believe in bunk ?Fri, 03 Aug 2018 15:34:05 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/what-to-do-when-family-members-believe-in-bunk.t4701/
https://www.metabunk.org/what-to-do-when-family-members-believe-in-bunk.t4701/invalid@example.com (Leifer)Leifer
No one is speaking of religion claims, but those that are often conversational claims of medical cures and ideals which are largely unproven in the scientific community.

I don't know if this happens within your family gatherings.....but it does within mine......to a small but significant amount.]]>254Debunked: Delta Lambda CompressionWed, 25 Jul 2018 16:21:53 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/debunked-delta-lambda-compression.t9848/
https://www.metabunk.org/debunked-delta-lambda-compression.t9848/invalid@example.com (Mick West)Mick West

This Indiegogo campaign is so obviously impossible that I suspect it might be some kind of elaborate educational hoax teaching people not to trust Indiegogo campaigns. But in case it's not, spoiler, it doesn't work.

Delta Lambda claims to to compress your existing data on...

Debunked: Delta Lambda Compression]]>16Debunkers, Skeptics and Conspiracists: Where are you on the political compass?Mon, 23 Jul 2018 23:54:01 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/debunkers-skeptics-and-conspiracists-where-are-you-on-the-political-compass.t2039/
https://www.metabunk.org/debunkers-skeptics-and-conspiracists-where-are-you-on-the-political-compass.t2039/invalid@example.com (Mick West)Mick Westhttp://politicalcompass.org/test

(To copy the image into a post, just right click on it, then "Copy Image", and then you can post it directly into the editor here)

"The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of...

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The World is Rudderless:Conspiracy Theory quote]]>27How Fake News Goes ViralSun, 20 May 2018 18:12:50 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/how-fake-news-goes-viral.t8173/
https://www.metabunk.org/how-fake-news-goes-viral.t8173/invalid@example.com (MikeG)MikeGNew York Times did an interesting piece on a fake story that was quickly debunked by Snopes and a few other sources, but illustrates the process of how quickly a combination of bad (or no) fact checking and social media can spread faulty information.

Eric Tucker, a 35-year-old co-founder of a marketing company in Austin, Tex., had just about 40 Twitter followers. But his recent tweet about paid protesters being bused to demonstrations against...

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How Fake News Goes Viral]]>120Debunked: Obamacare Article 54 (Satire FB Page)Mon, 16 Apr 2018 22:55:59 +0000https://www.metabunk.org/debunked-obamacare-article-54-satire-fb-page.t9644/
https://www.metabunk.org/debunked-obamacare-article-54-satire-fb-page.t9644/invalid@example.com (MikeG)MikeG
A meme from a Facebook site “America-Love It or Leave It” came out this weekend claiming that Social Security recipients will be losing a significant part of their benefits to undocumented immigrants.https://www.facebook.com/lovetheusa...698153799112/2099766766925582/?type=3&theater

The claim is absolutely false and easily researched by simply taking a look at the actual Patient Protection and Affordable...